National Briefing / NEVADA

Dust disrupts revelers at Burning Man

A dust storm chased away some participants from the Burning Man festival before its traditional nighttime climax, authorities said.

Roger Farschon, incident commander for the federal Bureau of Land Management, said the dust storm on the Black Rock Desert about 110 miles north of Reno began early in the afternoon and continued into the evening.

"We are in [a] total whiteout," he said in an e-mail.

The annual celebration of radical self-expression was scheduled to climax with the torching of its 40-foot signature effigy.

In the morning, the crowd reached a record 49,599, up from 47,097 last year, authorities reported.